Carton-capping mechanism



2 W. R. REDD CARTON CAPPING MECHANISM Filed Dec. s1. 1921 s sheets-sheetll W. R. REDD CARTON CAPPING MECHANISM Filed D60. 5l, 1921 5Sheets-Sheet 2 www .H ww), A@

I @Ma/)Pal /gy/gmwj g sept. 2 1924. 1,507,030

W. R. REDD CARTON CAPPING MECHANI SM Filed nec. s1, 1921 5 sheets-sheet5 Sept. 2 1924.

W. R. REDD CARTON CAPPING' MECHANISM Filed Dec. 51, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet4- Sept. 2 1924. v 1,507,030

^ w. R. REDD CARTON CAPPING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 51. 1921 5 sheets-sheet5 -f if g77 @SS Patented Sept. 2, 1924.

UNITED siarasY WILLIAM RUSSELL REDD, or OAK PARK, rL-Lrivorsi AssIeNoaTo THE MoR'roN SALT PATENT OFFICE.

COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINIS, A CORPORATION OE' ILLINOIS.

CRTO N-CAPPING IVICHANISM. l

Application led December 31, 1921. Serial No. 526,343.

To all whom t 'may concern;

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM Russ-ELL REDD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at vOak Fark, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented cert-ain new and useful Improvements inCarton-Capping Mechanisms7 of which the following is a specification.

The mechanism of the present invention is designed as an attachment to acarton sealing machine of the character employed for the sealing ofcartons containing salt or like granular substances. In certain carto-nsemployed for such a purpose, it is customary to provide a small holeV oraperture in one end of the carton for the purpose `of affording anoutlet for the granular contents thereof, so that the user may pour outthe quanti-ty desired as occasion may require. In the past it has beencustomary to manually insert a small metallic. cap into the o-utletaperture before the carto-n was placed on the sealer;

, and the object of the present invention is to provide automaticmechanism for applying such metallic caps, thereby dispensing with theservices of several .operators and consequently reducing the cost of thefilling operation. l

The present invention is built onto the sealing and folding mechanism inproper relation to the travelling carrier for the empty cartons andderives the power required for its voperation from the same source asthat which supplies the powerfor the sealing machine, but it will beunderstood in the description of the. present invention that only somuch of the sealing machine will be illustrated as is needful to afforda full understanding of the nature of the present invention.

In particular the present invention is directed to the hopper` whichhouses a supply of metallic caps, the chute or guide for directing thecaps to the capping device, the

' means for transporting the caps one at a time from the chute to apoint adjacent the orifice in the carton, to the means for forcing thecap into said orice,vto themeans for arresting the advance of the columnof caps during the capping operation, to thesafety appliances foroperating the machine idly during a cessation in the advance of theprocession-of cartons and to the other operating Fig. 3 is a sideelevation of the capping y mechanism g Fig. 4L is alongitudinalsectional elevation thereof showing the capping yhead in thedelivery position, the sectioned portion being taken on line dof Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a top or plan view of the capping V mechanism;

Fig. 6 is va detail of the capping head mainly in sect-ion;

Fig. is a perspective view of the end of a carton with its cap inserted;

Fig. 8 .'s an inner yface detail-of the guide way for thecaps taken onlline 8 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 is an inner face detail sho-wing the stop pins for arresting thecolumn of caps andthe safety mechanism for arresting the activeoperation o-f the machine when the advance of the procession of Acartonsis stopped taken on line 9 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 10 is -a perspective view showing the trated'invFigs. 2 and 7, arestampedv from sheet metal to provide a circular dished body portionprovided with an outwardly extend-` ingiiange k13 which caps aresup-plied from a hopper 14 mounted upon a vertical rock shaft 15 journaled at its lower end within a i socket head l'carried by a bracketarm 17 upstanding from the main frame of the machine.

The vhopper is provided with aconical base plate 18 which terminatesslightly short of the cylindrical side wall of the hopper and therebyaffords an annular groove or channel 19 of proper width and depth to re-Y eeive the caps in edgewise relation as `indicated in Fig. 2, butexcludes the caps when lying in flatwise relation. Mostof the caps insliding down the conical surface of the base plate will arrangethemselves with the flanged or open side down and enter edgewise intothe annular Agroove with the flanged or open side toward the center asindicated by the lower` cap in Fig. 2. This is the position which theymust occupy in order to be discharged from the hopper and to permittheir discharge, the bottom wall 2O of the hopper is provided on oneside with a. discharge orifice 21. configured to permit only theproperly positioned caps to fall through.

1n order to effect an agitation of the caps in the hopper the rock shaftis provided with an outstanding crank arm 22 which receives motion froma link 23 eccentrically carried by .a disk 24 mounted upon atransmission shaft 25 adapted to receive power from any suitable source.rFhis arrangement serves to impart a short sharp vibratory movement tothe hopper which serves to shake the caps and cause them to arrangethemselves in edgewise relation within the annular channel. In order totake care of any caps which fall into the channel lace out as indicatedat the top of Fig. 2, a

' second orifice 26 like the orifice 2l is provided, but bein arrangedin opposite relation thereto wil prevent the discharge of the properlyadjusted caps which can only find exit through the orice 21.

IThe mal-adjusted caps falling through the orifice 2G are collected in abox or can 2T from which they may be again poured into the hopper.

The orifice 2l registers with a flattened slightly flexible chute 28 theupper end of which vibrates with the hopper, which chute receives thecaps in column form and in edgewise relation and conveys them down to aguide-way 29 formed in the face of a vertically disposed guide plate 30upstand ing from a standard 31 (see Fig. S) which springs Yfrom a baseplate 32 suitably supported upon the bed 33 of the machine. The frontof' the guide plate 30 is covered by a closing plate 34 provided in itsface with a vertically disposed slot 35 through which the column of capsis exposed as indicated in Fig. 8.

The progress of the column of caps is regulated by the means of upperstop pins 36 and the lower stop pins 37 (see Fig. 4) which pins are invertical alignment with one another and operate in alternation throughthe vertical slot 35 against the caps which are exposed open sideforward to the action of the pins. That is to say7 when the lower pin isadvanced as indicated in Fig. 4, the entire column is arrested but withthe subsequent advance of the upper pin 36 and the concurrent recessionof the lower )in the lowermost ca) will be tree to 'fall through theGuide-wa until 1t is b C y engaged by a capping head 38 carried byaswinging arm 39 presently to be described.

The pin 36 is carried by an upper cross head 40 (see Figs. 4 and 9) andthe pin 37 by a lug 4l depending from a lower cross head 42. The uppercross head is carried by a pair of spaced guide rods 43 and the lowercross head byv a similar pair of spaced guide rods 44 (see Figs. 4 and9), both pairs of guide rods being slidably mounted within a guide block45 which rests upon and is supported by the center frame 45 of themachine. rlhe upper guide rods at their rear end are connected by a rearupper cross head 47 and the lower guide rods by a similar rear crosshead 48, each of which cross heads in its center is provided with a pairot ears 49 between which pairs of ears are mounted anti-friction rollers50 which bear against upper and lower cams 51 and 52 respectivelymounted in opposite relation upon a cam shaft 53, so that as the upperpin is advanced the lower pin will be withdrawn and vice versa. Only theprojection of the pins is effected by the cams, the return movementsbeing effected by the action of coil springs 54 which surrounds theguide rods and are interposedI between the guide blocks 45 and therespective upper and lower rear cross heads 47 and 4S.

The capping head 38, which is best shown in Fig. 6, is in the form of avcylindrical block of substantially the flange diameter of one of thecaps, and the capping head when in raised position presents its flatface vertically to the Jfalling caps which latter are caught by anundercut .finger 55 which engages the cap flange at its loweredge. Asteel ball 55 protruding from a bore 5i' and backed by a spring 58serves to exert the necessary spring pressure against the Jforward faceof the cap flange to hold the same in engagement with the capping headwhile the latter is swung down into a position to register with the holeiu the carton to be capped. The capping head is carried by a swingingarm 39 (see Fig. 4) which arm is socketed in a swinging block 60 carriedby trunnions 6i within a yoke frame 62 the head 63 of'which has fittedthereinto a vertical guide stem 64 which passes through the cross head65 of the main trame 46 and through the guide block 45 being guidedtherein for vertical reciprocation..

The sides of the main frame are provided with vertically elongated slots6G which serve as guides for the reciprocation of the trunnions 61, andthe inner trunnion (Si, as shown in Fig. 3, has rigidly mounted thereona disk 67 which carries an eccentrically disposed crank pin 68 carryingan antiefriceffected by means of a roller 72 which is car- -lll ried ona. stud 73 -entered into the rear cross wall 74 of the-yoke (see Fig. 4)and disposed at right angles to the upper cross head. The roller ismoved vertically by the action of the cam head 75 which carries aperipheral cam flange 76 having an easy cam fac-e 77 and an abrupt camface 78 as best shown in Fig. 3, which cam head is carried upon the camshaft 53. This arrangement affords an easy uplifting or return movementto the yoke and the capping head carried thereby and a somewhat abruptdown movement of these parts, which latter is effected by the tension ofa pair of springs 79. the upper ends of which are secured to a cross bai80 carried by the stein 64, the lower ends of the springs being securedto the .side walls of the main frame on opposite sides thereof.

ln order to insure a positive gripping of the caps by the capping head38, the caps are forced into engagement thereby by means now to bedescribed. The standard 31 which supports the chute, is provided with avertical slot 81 (see Fig. 4) which slot affords clearance for theaction of a finger 82 which is mounted upon a pivot 83 carried by a yoke84 supported forever,- tical reciprocation upon the lower end of a stem85 mounted within a i guide lug 86 which projects rearwardly fromthestandard 31, the upper end of the stem being encircled by a coil spring87 which bears against a nut 88 to eHect a liftingmoveinent of the-yokeand parts carried thereby.

The mounting for the iinger 82 is provided with a tail piece 89 which isso positioned on its downward movement that it will engage a springsupported stop-pin 90 carried by a lug 91 and to engage an oppositelydisposed upper pin 92 on its return movement. The arrangement is suchthat as the yoke is moved downwardly, the tail piece will b-e engaged bythe lower pin and the finger 82 will be swung downwardly through theslot 81 and against the lowermost cap previously released `by the pin 37thereby positively forcing the'cap downwardly and into engagement withthe capping head, which positive action is necessary, since gravitycannot safely be relied upon to carry the released cap to the desiredposition. The up and down movements of the mechanism just described areeffected through thev medium of a lever 93 which is pivoted at its rearend to the yoke 84 and is fulcrumed at an intermediate point 94 to therear side wall f the main frame, being provided at its forward endwithan inwardly extending roller 95 adapted to ride upona cam fiange 96vcarried by the cam shaft. The pivotal action between the arm 93 and theyoke 84 is designed to aiford the necessary lost motion to accommodatethe arcuate movement of the lever to the reciprocating movement oftheyoke.

When the filled cartons are passing the capping point in uninterruptedsequence, each movement of the capping head will result in the dischargeof a cap, but incase the procession of cartons-.is interrupted, it`

becomes necessary to provide means yfor arresting the further down fiowof the column of caps. For this purpose, the following mechanism isprovided.

The lower cross head 42 at one end thereof is provided with a shortdepending flange 97 (see Figs. 3, 9, and 11) which terminates short ofthe depending lug 41 which carries the lower stop pin and behind thisflange, when the cross head 42 is advanced, the upper end of a stoplever 98 is adapted to swing. vAs indicated in full lines in Fig. 9,when the upper end of the lever--is stopped in an intermediate positionbehind the flange 97, it will prevent the retraction of the cross headwith its lower in 37, so that the release of caps in the colloumn willbe arrested. In the normal operation of the machine, the stop leverwill, on each actuation, swing through its complete arc of movement intimed relation to the advance andfrecession of the cross head, so thatno arresting thereof will be effected. I

The inner limit of movement is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 9 andthe outer and inner movement is limited by means of a flanged guidepiece 99 carried byl a stem 100 entered into the main frame. The stoplever 98 is mounted upon a rock shaft 101 carried by a journal bearing102 secured to the base of the standard 31v and this rock shaft, at anintermediate position, carries a trip finger r103 which, when thecapping head 38 is empty, is designed to freely swing across the facethereof after its return move-i ment without being arrested. If,however, the capping head should return from one of its excursions`without discharging its cap, the trip finger will strike the body ofthe cap held by the capping hea-d and be arrested at such a point as tohold the stop lever 98 in posi-tion behind the iange 97 of the crosshead 42, so that the latter cannot return to its releasing` position.

As shown in Fig. 8, the rock shaft 101 is rocked by means of anactuating arm 104 which is outwardly curved at its upper end 105 and isadapted to be engaged by a bowed spring 106 which is lsecured to theside of the vertically movable yoke 84, so that each movement of theyoke will serve to impart a corresponding movement to the rock shaft 101sufficient to effect an out throw of the stop lever 98 to its limit ofmovement thereby bringing the latter to a position in which it will notobstruct the return movement of the lower cross head. lhen the yoke 84,is lifted, the rock sha-ft will be given an inward rotation through thetension of the spring 10i' secured to the stop lever 98 (see Fig. 9),and this movement will normally be sufficient to ensure a. com- `pleteinward swing ot the stop lever 98 unless the movement is arrested by thcpresence. of an undischarged cap on the capping head, the swing of theseparts being timed to precede the recession of the lower cross head. lfthe lower stop pin 37 be not released, the finger 82 will strike againstan immovable cap so that as the tail piece 89 engages the springsupported lower pin 910 (see Fig. 3) the continued movement or" the yoke8l will resultin a depression of the lower stop pin 90 which is springsupported to allow Jfor these conditions.

The cam shatt is provided at its end with a bevel pinion 108 whichmeshes with a bevel pinion 109 carried by a power shaft 110 journaled ina bracket 111 secured to the base of the machine. in any suitable mannerand the speed of rotation ot the power shaft will be in timed relationto the travel of the carriers which bring the cartons respectively incapping position.

Fig. 1 illustrates the general relation oit the capping mechanism to thecarton carrying mechanism which latter, however, forms no portion of thepresent invention and will bev but briefly referred to.

Each filled carton is supported upon a carrier 112 mounted upon asuitable conveyor 113 in position to bring the discharge orifice of thecarton, at the proper moment, immediately below the capping head when inits lowered position as indicated in Fig. l. Each carton 113L isprovided with a pair of flaps lll the rearnrost of which, in the line ofadvance, is provided with an aperture 115 to receive the cap. As thecarton approaches the capping mechanism, the forward flap is presseddown by enga-gement with a shoe 115a and the rear or apertured flap ispressed down by the action of a swinging arm 116 having a presser finger117 at its lower end. The arm 116 is carried by a link 118 actuated by alever 119 the movements of which link are controlled by a roller 120traveling in a runway 121 on the upper end of a bracket arm 122. Therelation of these parts is such that as the lever 119 is swung inwardly,the end of the link will ride upwardly and swing the arm 116 withsufficient speed to over-take the advancing carton and strike down therearmost flap into the position indicated in dotted lines before theflap reaches the point of engagement with the shoe 115% The carton withits-flaps folded down will i then advance at a predetermined rate ofspeed to the capping point simultaneously with the down swing of thecapping head, so that the body of the cap will engagethe aperture in theflap at the proper moment and be drawn forward therewith and releasedfrom the capping head by the advance of the carton. The cap, afterinsertion, is firmly pressed in place by the action of a presser plate123 at the rea-r of the machine which is pivoted to a plate 12A andbacked by a spring 125.

The operation of the machine may be suinniarized as follows: The hopper'is filled with the caps and the mechanism thrown into operation. A shortsharp vibrating movement will be imparted to the hopper so that the capstherein contained will be agitated and caused to slide downwardly inflatwise relation upon the surface otl the conical hopper bottom. Mostof the caps will lie open face downward upon the conical surface due tothe natural tendency of a body to rest upon its larger face. The capsthus positioned will work downl into the annular peripheral groove andthose which are properly positioned will be discharged in column forminto the chute 28 and travel down until arrested by either the upper orlower stop pins which in alternate relation advance to and recede fromthe stopping position.

As a cap is released by the recession lof the lower stop pin the linger82 will descend and strike down the cap until caught by the finger onthe capping head. Simultaneously with these operations the upper stoppin 36 will advance to momentarily arrest the col umn of caps until thecapping` head begins to return to its receiving position. A cap clampedto its face will swing downwardly through the action of the roller 69inthe Lshaped groove and the curve is so cone figured as to give to thecapping head a swinging or arcuate movement until it has reached aposition. immediately above the capping point after which'the movementof the capping head terminates in a short straight vertical thrust whichis timed to meet the advancing carton at the proper instant of time.

The cap being inserted in the carton will be drawn away from the cappinghead, and the latter will then be returned to its rceei ving position.It a carton should be absent at the proper moment, the capping head willswing back still carrying the cap and in these circumstances, the bodyof the cap will obstruct the free movement of the trip finger 103 sothat the stop lever 98 will be arrested llO in position to prevent thereturn movement of the lower stop finger 37 thereby stopping the downflow of the column of caps through the chute until the procession ofcartons again begins to arrive at the capping position. During suchperiod of rest the capping mechanism will operate idly so that noattention from the operator is required.

The capping mechanism is one which may be applied to any kind of amachine which serves to bring the cartons to capping position inregularly timed sequence, and although, defined as a machine forapplying caps to cartons, is obviouslyadapted to ai ply caps or plugs toany box or sheet which is perforated after the manner of a carton.

The operating mechanisms are. all timed by the arrangement of the camscarried by the cam shaft so that perfect timing at a rapid rate isassured. The safety stop mechanism heretofore described prevents anyjamming of the machine and insures against a waste of caps when thecapping function is suspended for the time being. The machine may beoperated without any attention whatsoever save that required Yinoccasionally filling the hopper with caps which need only be filled atcomparatively unfrequent intervals. The machine is rugged inconstruction and can be operated at an expenditure of but a slightamount of power and without requiring that the cartons be stopiped intheir forward travel during the capping operation.

I claim:

l. A cappingmachine comprising a chute adapted to receive a column ofcaps, a cap-I ping head mounted to move from the chute to the` cappingpoint and conveycaps one at a time to the. capping point, stop mechanismadapted to arrest the advance of the column of caps during the cappingoperation, and safety appliances adapted to be actuated by the presenceof an undelivered cap to con-v tinue the arresting action of the stopmechanism when the capping head returns toreceiving position with anundelivered cap, substantially as described.

2. A capping machine comprising a chute adapted to receive a column ofcaps, a capping head mounted to swing from the chute to the cappingpoint Vand convey caps one at a time to the capping point, stopmechanism adapted to arrest the advance of the column of caps during thecapping operation, and safety appliances adapted to be actuated by thepresence of an undelivered cap to continue the arresting action of thestop mechanism when the capping head returns to receiving position withan undelivered cap, substantially as described.

3. A capping machine comprising a chute adapted to receive a column ofcaps, a capping head mounted to move from the chute to the capping pointand convey caps one at a time to the capping point, stop mechanism isafety appliances adapted to continue the arresting act-ion of the stopmechanism when the capping head returns to receiving position with anundelivered cap, said mechanism being controlled by engagement of a partthereof with said undeliveredcap carried by the capping head,substantially as described.

4L. A capping machine comprising a chute adapted to receive a column ofcaps, a capping head mounted to swing from the chute to the cappingpoint and convey caps one at a time to the capping poing-stop mechanismadapted to arrest the advance of the column of caps during the cappingoperation, and safety appliances adapted to continue; the arrestingaction of thestop mechanism when the capping head returns to receivingposition with an undelivered cap, said mechanism beingcontrolled byengagement of a part thereof with said undelivered cap carried by lthecapping head, substantially as described. y

5. In a capping machine the combination of a hopper adaptedto arrangecaps in edgewise relation, a chute adapted to receive the caps inedgewise relation from the hopper 'i and convey the same in column form,a capping head mounted to move to receiving position in line with thecolumn of caps and provided with means for engaging and holding a cap inface-wise relation to the capping head, means for forcing the caps intoengagement with the head, means for lmoving the capping headfromreceiving tocapping position, alternately acting stop pins forreleasing the column of caps one at a time to position to be engaged 'bythe capping head, and safety mechanism adapted to continue the arrestingaction of oneof the stop pins when `the capping .head returns toreceivingposition with an undis-` charged cap, said mechanism iincluding a member adapted to engage such undischarged cap and therebybring the mechanism into action, substantially as described.

.6. In a capping machine the combination of a hopper adapted to arrangeleaps in edgewise relation, a chute adapted t0 receive the caps inedge-wise relation from the hopper and convey the same in column form, acapping head mounted to move to receiving position in line with thecolumn of caps and provided with means for engaging and holding a cap inface-wise relation tothe capp-ing head, means for forcing the ca-ps intoengagement withthe head, and means for moving the capping head fromreceiving to capping position, the cap engaging kmeans being adapted topermit the removal nately acting stop pins vtor releasing the column otcaps one at a time to position to be engaged by the capping head, andsafety mechanism adapted to continue the arresting action of one of thestop pins when the capping head returns to receiving position with anundischarged cap, said mechanism including a member adapted to engagesuch undischarged cap and thereby bring the mechanism into action,substantially as described.

7. In capping mechanism the combination of a guide for the caps, aswinging capping head adapted when in receiving position to registerwith the cap guide and provided with a hooked finger adapted to en-Orage one edge of a cap and hold the capv in face-wise relation to thecapping head, and means for swinging the capping head from receiving` todischarging position, substantially as described. Y

8. In capping mechanism the combination of a guide for caps, a cappinghead, a mounting for the capping head provided with trunnions, avertically movable yoke through which the trunnions are journaled, meansfor vertically moving the yoke, means for turning the trunnions andswinging the capping head concurrently with the vertical movement of theyoke to carry the capping head from a position registering with the capguide to the capping position, alternately acting stop pins adjacent thecap guide for controlling the passage of caps therethrough in timedrelation to the movements of the capping head, a safety mechanismadapted to hold the stop mechanism in stopping position when thecap-ping head returns to receiving position with an undischarged cap,said mechanism including a member adapted to engage with suchundischarged cap on the capping head, substantially as described.

9. In capping mechanism the combination of a guide for caps, a cappinghead, a mounting for the capping head provided with trunnions, avertically movable yoke through which the trunnions are journaled, meansfor vertically moving the yoke, means for turning the trunnions andswinging the capping head concurrently with the vertical movement of theyoke to carry the capping head from a position registering with the capguide to. the capping position means for forcing the caps one at a timeinto engagement with the capping head when in re-y ceiving position,alternately acting stop pins adjacent the cap guide for cont-rolling thepassage of caps therethrough in timed relation to the movement of thecapping head, a safety mechanism adapted to iold the stop mechanism instopping position when the capping head returns to receiving positionwith an undischarged cap, said mechanism including a member adapted toengage with such undischarged cap on the capping head, substantially asdescribed.v

l0. In capping mechanism the combina-` tion of a capping head, amounting there for, trunnions on the mounting, a yoke through which thetrunnions are journaled, means for reciprocating the yoke, a membercarried eccentrically by one of the trunnions, and a member providedwith a slot for engaging said eccentrically mounted member to impartrotation yto the trunnions and a swinging movement to the capping headas a resultant of reciprocating movements imparted to the yoke,substantially as described.

1l. In a capping machine the combination of a guide for caps, amovablecapping head adapted to transport caps from the guide to thecapping point, means for forcing the caps one at a time into engagementwith the capping head, said means comprising a pivoted finger and areciprocable mounting therefor, the linger being positioned to strikedown the caps within the guide-way and being provided with a `tail pieceand a member adapted to be engaged by said tail piece and to effect amovement of the linger, substantially as described.

12. In a capping machine the combination of a guide for caps, a cappinghead movablefrom receiving position in register with the guide tocapping position, slidablyi mounted upper and lower 'stop fingers, for

controlling the progress of caps through' the guide, a swinging stopmember adapted normally to swing back and forth to'position to clear themounting for one of the stop ngers, and means associated with saidswinging member and adapted to engage with an undelivered cap carried bythe capping head on its return movement and by' such engagement toarrest the swinging stop member in position to'prevent movement ot thestop pin, substantially as described.

W'. RUSSELL REDD.

